Live Edge Ant Infested Walnut Bench

I just finished this during the last week and installed it today. This is a slab of walnut that was reclaimed by Urban Wood Lab in Milwaukee, WI. It housed a colony of ants and they created this work of art which I then made into a bench for some very satisfied clients. The waterfall leg turned out awesome. Finish is 6 coats of wiped on spar urathane. There is a 3/4” x 1-1/4” spline routed and glued into the miter. Any comments are welcome. And yes the ants have been eradicated.

Ropelie, I used a standard 7-1/4” circular saw and a clamped on straight edge. With the blade tipped at 45 degrees I wasn’t able to cut all the way thru the slab so I finished with a hand saw. A little work with the belt sander and in about 15 min the joint came together. The spline is what actually allows the joint to line up so well. I had to adjust the miter about a 16th of an inch to compensate for the material lost in the saw kerf. All & all not to difficult.

farmerdude, Thanks for the comment. Nature provides us with all kinds of art work, we just have to look for it and have a clear vision of what can be done to showcase it.

leafherder, I used some epoxy in some of the areas that appeared to be weakened but for the most part, no, I left them as they were. I used some “CA” in areas where it was punky and this stiffened the wood fibers nicely. The customer was not concerned with any snagging as it will be more of a show piece than an actual seating bench. It is attached to the wall with cleats that are screwed into the bench and then into to wall studs. The cleats are made out of walnut also. No concerns about the air vent it’s far enough away from the slab and there is plenty of air movement in the room.

Ric, Think again about that vent in the floor … I had a wonderful antique piece that was my grandmothers, circa 1890-1900 … It had been about 5 houses that I owned over the years with no problems.Then came the day that I moved into a condo for a while and I set my prized antique over a vent. about a month later as the heat came on I heard a loud CRACK!! and the value of my prized Antique went from valuable to a keepsake of no value.Yeah, I thought that I had plenty of room for it to blow too. ... not considering that all that air from the furnace is very, very dry. ... just food for thought.

Might try one of those plastic deflectors that moves the air 90° out along the floor.

Nice project, and I like the texture of the mined out wood … looks good.